Audio 4:27
Old name a breath of fresh Eyre

Rebecca BriceUpdated
Wed 19 Dec 2012, 6:26 PM AEDT

The Arabana people of South Australia are planning a celebration after the state consented to formally recognising Kati Thanda as the original and alternative name for Lake Eyre, over which the Aboriginal community holds native title. They hope that in time, the Indigenous name will be widely adopted, as is the case with Uluru.

Transcript

SALLY SARA: It's a sprawling and often parched landmark in the arid heart of Australia which draws in tourists when it floods. But Lake Eyre also holds significance in Aboriginal dreaming as an ancient meeting place.

Now, that meeting place will have a second name - Kati Thanda. And as people get used to the original Aboriginal name, the local community hopes that the European title will one day fade away.

Rebecca Brice has more.

AARON STUART: I think it's a fantastic leap forward in Australia.

REBECCA BRICE: Aaron Stuart is suitably chuffed. Today, South Australia agreed to formally recognise the name his Arabana people know Lake Eyre by - Kati Thanda.

AARON STUART: It's an easy word for all Australians to say, and I think it's a beautiful name. Well, it's an ancient name, because it goes back prior to colonisation. It was there before obviously white settlement.

It's very hard to describe when you're an Aboriginal, and you look at us as a nation, and you look at the issues like constitutional reform and stuff and also the welfare issues, it's great moments like these that really mark a spot in time for our history, that really show that we as a nation are advancing forward.

REBECCA BRICE: The Arabana won native title over 70,000 square kilometres of South Australia's far north, including Lake Eyre, in May.

That's when Aaron Stuart raised the prospect of recognising its Aboriginal name and the lake's significance in Arabana dreaming.

AARON STUART: A great kangaroo hopped out of one of those caves that are sunken in the Nullarbor Plain and hopped towards where Lake Eyre is today, but on the journey, it experienced different flora and fauna and it tells the story what happened to that kangaroo's journey until it was actually hunted down by an Arabana man who tracked it around the Neales and the peak and up towards Anna Creek and who later killed the animal and skun it and laid the skin out there which made the lake.

REBECCA BRICE: Bill Watt is from South Australia's Planning, Transport and Infrastructure department. He's been overseeing the request.

BILL WATT: We're now in a position that we have all the final authorisations to do so.

REBECCA BRICE: And when you talk about authorisations, what do you need to go through? Obviously you'd need to be sure that this is the right name for it.

BILL WATT: We certainly need to be sure it's the right name, that the spelling of the name is in harmony with the desires of the Aboriginal language group in question, and that it is a decision that's representative of the majority of the community, if not the whole community, rather than perhaps just one or two individuals or families within the community.

We just want to make sure that we're doing things in the manner that is appropriate from an Aboriginal cultural perspective.

REBECCA BRICE: Do you have to through a consultation process?

BILL WATT: There isn't a requirement to undergo a public consultation because we regard the Aboriginal name as being in longstanding usage with parts of the community, so as such we can accept that once we're assured that it is the desire of the community itself.

REBECCA BRICE: Aaron Stuart:

AARON STUART: It's a dual name, but like with Uluru, we're expecting the second name just to die out with time and obviously that will probably happen.

Obviously now, when maps are made and there are statements made about the particular country, it's all got to be changed, but I really think it's a great moment.

REBECCA BRICE: Bill Watt says South Australia was the first state to legislate a dual naming system. It now has more than 300.

When does the name take effect?

BILL WATT: We will gazette that early in the new year and then request that in time, signage and maps and such like are amended to reflect the dual name situation.

There's plenty of maps of the area that need to be amended - tourist maps and standard topographical maps - and it will take some time before the name is fully reflected in all of those situations, but the more people use it, the quicker people become familiar with it and it becomes part of the general state nomenclature.

REBECCA BRICE: Phil Turner runs the Marree Hotel, about 60 kilometres south east of the lake.

PHIL TURNER: I think we'll see that the die-hards will always refer to it as Lake Eyre, just as they do with Ayers Rock, but what I am seeing in the hotel is a new generation of people that are coming through and they refer to Ayers Rock as Uluru and I think that's just an educational process that over time, the name will change as a progression, a natural progression - evolution, if you like.

REBECCA BRICE: So you think the same thing will happen with Lake Eyre?

PHIL TURNER: Yeah.

REBECCA BRICE: The Arabana are now planning a celebration at the site.